Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of combustion burners and methods of use, and more specifically to burners, submerged combustion melters, and methods of their use, particularly for melting glass forming materials.
Background Art
A submerged combustion melter (SCM) may be employed to melt glass batch and/or waste glass materials to produce molten glass by passing oxygen, oxygen-enriched mixtures, or air along with a liquid, gaseous and/or particulate fuel (some of which may be in the glass-forming materials), directly into a molten pool of glass, usually through burners submerged in a glass melt pool. The introduction of high flow rates of products of combustion of the oxidant and fuel into the molten glass, and the expansion of the gases during submerged combustion (SC), cause rapid melting of the glass batch and much turbulence and foaming.
Oxy-fuel burners have been used for many years in the glass industry in general especially in the fiberglass, TV glass, and container glass industry segments. In the context of SCMs, known oxy-fuel burners are predominately water-cooled, nozzle mix designs and avoid premixing for safety reasons due to the increased reactivity of using oxygen as the oxidant versus air. One currently used submerged combustion burner employs a smooth exterior surface, half-toroid metallic burner tip of the same or similar material as the remainder of the burner. When using such burners in an SCM for the manufacture of glass, the burner tip is placed in an extreme environment. The burner tip is exposed to corrosive combustion gases, high temperature glass contact, internal pressure from water or other coolant, vaporization of coolant within the burner tip, thermal cycling, and the like. As a result, common materials are often insufficient to survive for extended periods of time in this environment.
Development of submerged combustion burners having less susceptibility to the SCM environment while melting glass-forming materials would be an advance in the submerged combustion art.